The Role of Local Institutions in Adaptation to Climate Change

Agrawal, Arun

World Bank, Washington, DC

关键词: ACCOUNTABILITY;    ADAPTATION;    ADAPTATION ACTIONS;    ADAPTATION CHOICES;    ADAPTATION COSTS;   

RP-ID  :  69128

学科分类：社会科学、人文和艺术（综合）

来源: World Bank Open Knowledge Repository

【 摘 要 】

This review focuses on the role of localinstitutions in adaptation to climate change. It does sounder the belief that climate impacts will affectdisadvantaged social groups more disproportionately, andthat local institutions centrally influence how differentsocial groups gain access to and are able to use assets andresources. It suggests that adaptation to climate change isinevitably local and that institutions influence adaptationand climate vulnerability in three critical ways: a) theystructure impacts and vulnerability, b) they mediate betweenindividual and collective responses to climate impacts andthereby shape outcomes of adaptation, and c) they act as themeans of delivery of external resources to facilitateadaptation, and thus govern access to such resources. Infocusing on local institutions, the review fills two glaringgaps in the existing understanding about institutions andclimate change: the lack of middle-range theories ofadaptation practices to help frame policy debates, and theabsence of comparative empirical studies of adaptation tosupport policy interventions. To contribute to middle-rangetheoretical knowledge about climate change the reviewdevelops a conceptual framework to understand and classifythe adaptation practices of the rural poor, view theinstitutional structuring of adaptation, and examine thetypes of external support interventions that localinstitutions inevitably channel. The review proposes a focuson different forms of mobility, storage, diversification,communal pooling, and market exchange in rural settings asthe basic mechanisms through which households addressriskiness of livelihoods. Using the familiar typology ofpublic, private, and civil society institutions the reviewproposes an institutional linkages framework that highlightsthe role of institutional partnerships in facilitatingadaptation and drawing from social network analysis itpresents a conceptual toolkit to analyze institutionalpartnerships and their impacts on resource access ofvulnerable social groups. In examining the role ofinstitutions in channeling financial, information andtechnological, leadership, and policy interventions intorural areas, the review highlights that institutions arecritical leverage points through which to determine thedirection and magnitude of flows of resources to differentsocial groups.